A Travesty of Piece
by Heir of the void
Summary: Yet another Mass Effect SI. I certainly didn't expect to be transported to the Mass Effect Universe, or to be captured and experimented on by Asari Mad Scientists. However, when I survive their experiments, I am left biotic and able to operate a strange suit of powered armor.
1. Chapter 1

I awakened.

The first thing I noticed upon awakening was that I was _not_ in my bed. In fact, it felt an awful lot like I was lying on cold sheet metal, with a bolt sticking into my back.

I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I was lying on a plate of metal, and there was an exposed bolt right where the small of my back had been.

Figures.

I looked around. I was in a corner, with walls of the same metal as the floor on two sides of me, and crates of a _different_ grey metal on another. There was also a child squatting next to me, who had her finger out like she was intending to poke me.

"Are you alright, mister?" She asked, a gap visible in her teeth.

"I'm fine." I said, somewhat confused. "I think."

"Good." She said. "We've been here awhile. I don't know what happened since those mean women showed up and loaded us onto this spaceship."

"Spaceship." I said flatly. "Are you saying we've been abducted by aliens?"

"I don't know about that." The girl said. "It's probably slavers. There are a lot of them out here."

"... What do you mean, out here?" I said, a sinking feeling in my gut.

"The Terminus systems." The girl said.

I felt my stomach drop out of my chest. It had to be a coincidence. There was no way I could be on a Slaver ship in _Mass Effect_. It wasn't possible. There was simply no-

There was a jolt, and a hissing sound, and a sound of metal grinding on metal. Footsteps entering the room.

"We have to go!" The girl said, in a harsh whisper. "They said they'll shoot us if we don't."

I stood up and followed the girl out from behind the wall of crates. Three armed figures holding boxy rifles and wearing armor contoured to their feminine forms that could pass as Mass Effect hardsuits. The strangest part was that each of the women had a baggy black mask with only eyeholes visible over her head, obscuring their features.

"Alright, this is the drill." One of them said, in stragly accented English. "My girls are going to be coming around and checking you people for genetic compatibility. It's just a little test on our Omni-tools, nothing to worry about."

With that, glowing orange bracers appeared around the right arms of each of the women, with a long probe extending from the forward edge. With no warning, they began grabbing people and thrusting the probes toward people's eyes.

I winced as they began inflicting ocular trauma. However, it quickly became clear that they _weren't_ stabbing people in the eyes, but rather holding up some kind of scanner to the eyes. There was a brief flash of light and they were done.

One of the woman came around to me. For a moment, I considered resisting, but decided not to. They had all the guns right now, and we we're in an environment they controlled. Not the best situation for a fight.

The woman held her probe up to by eye, and there was a brief flash of light. I began blinking rapidly, trying to dispel the dots swimming in my eye.

At this point, I was pretty sure I was in the Mass Effect universe. Terminus Systems, hardsuits, Omni-tools... it seemed like too much evidence to deny, much as I would like to. It was either that, or some kind of elaborate prank. However, that scenario seemed unlikely, given that I was never that big a Mass Effect fan in the first place.

"We're got one over here." The woman said, in here strangely accented English.

"Is that the last one?" The first woman to speak, probably the leader, said.

"Yes." The third woman said.

"Well, at least we got one." The leader replied. "Kill the extras."

The first gunshot, which didn't quite sound right, issued before I could react. One of my fellow abductees fell to the floor, a neat hole in his heat.

The woman who had scanned me stepped in front of me, almost protectively, then began gunning down the people in the compartment.

It was over almost before I could react. At least twenty people were dead on the floor, which was quickly becoming slick with blood, and only the three gunners were left standing.

"Why... why did you just do that?" I asked, shocked at what had just happened. They had killed all those people in cold blood.

"They were unnecessary." The leader said. "Now that we have you, there was no reason to have them waste our oxygen."

Despite the horror I had just witnessed, my mind was already turning. Oxygen. That confirmed that we were on a space station, or that these people were some kind of eco freaks. Either way, it was bad news.

"Anyway, now it time to get you to surgical prep." The woman said, pulling off her face mask.

And revealing a blue, almost human face. There were curling horns, which looked almost like tentacles, curving out from the back of her head, and darker blue marking where her eyebrows would have been.

An Asari. That tore it, this was _definitely_ mass effect.

Oh wait, surgical prep? I don't like the sound of that.

"What do you mean, surgical prep?" I demanded. "What are you doing."

"In due time, human." The lead Asari said. "Grab him."

Suddenly, a blue glow appeared around me, and I was floating in the air, trapped by a biotic lift. I struggled, but naturally, it did me absolutely no good. One of the Asari gestured, and I began floating out the still-open door.

I fell still as the trio of Asari floated me down the empty corridors. My mind was going in all kinds of directions, wondering why they were taking me to surgical prep. My present bet was that it was some kind of sick organ harvesting scheme, maybe for a rich person with some kind of rejection issues. That would explain the need for genetic compatibility.

As they opened a door and floated me through, I figured I was probably doomed. The Asari holding me in the air Threw me into what looked like a hospital bed, and the other two began restraining me.

A fourth Asari entered the room from outside my, now limited, field of view. She looked different than the others. She wore a remarkably human looking lab coat, and was carrying several bags filled with orange liquid.

That didn't look good.

"What are you doing to me?" I demanded again, struggling against my bonds. I was attached to the bed by my wrists and ankles, and the cuffs holding me down had no give to them.

"These are just a few gene mods." The doctor Asari said. "Nothing to worry about, okay?"

"What gene mods?" I said. "I doubt you're planning on turning me into Wolverine."

What can I say? I get snarky under pressure.

"Actually," the doctor Asari said, withdrawing a long, thick syringe from somewhere. "That's exactly what we plan on doing."

Then she injected me. For a moment, nothing happened. I was just about to ask after the doctor's previous comment when the pain hit.

I'm not embarrassed to say that I blacked out for a bit.

**A Travesty of Piece**

I don't know how much later I woke up, only that I was sore all over and felt like crap. I was still bound to the bed, and there appeared to be several bags of something connected to IV drips leading under by blankets. At least they had the decency to give me that, because I felt like they had removed my clothing at some point.

There was another Asari in the room, one that I hadn't seen before. She appeared to be doing something on her Omni-tool, but I couldn't tell what. I decided to name her Blue Space Bitch A, for ease of reference.

"Hey, BSBA!" I croaked. "What's the big deal?"

That was unfortunate. I intended that to be more James Bond interrogating his captors and less cancer patient. I suppose it was inevitable, given my situation.

"Oh! You're awake?" She said. She had a softer voice than the others. It sounded nicer, so it was probably a ruse to draw me in.

"Yeah. What did you do to me?"

"I can't tell you exactly what it was, but I believe that it was prep for some of the more radical surgeries coming up later."

"What do you mean?"

"Eezo node implantation."

My blood went cold. I'm pretty sure that wasn't possible. I had been a while since I had played Mass Effect, but I thought that Biotic Nodes were something that you had be born with.

"Is that even possible?" I asked.

"Yes." BSBA said. "The Krogan were the first to develop a technique for doing it, but it had a high mortality rate. We've refined the process, but it works best on humans due to your genetic malleability."

"What's the mortality rate?" I said. This probably wasn't going to be good.

BSBA paused.

"Tell me." I said.

"Sixty-six percent, technically." BSBA said. "Of the three humans we've tested it one, the one survivor went insane."

Well, that sucks.

"That's only the first stage of the augmentations." BSBA said. "The rest should be safer, though."

"What are the rest of the-"

The door to my room slid open, and the lab-coat Asari entered. She's now Doctor Blue Space Bitch.

Another Asari entered behind her, pushing a cart stacked high with various hardware.

"It's time for the next round of your surgery!" DBSB said. "I'm afraid that we can't put you out for this. We need you awake for neural connections to be made properly. I'll give you something for the pain and something to paralyze you, but no guarantees. Now, before I inject you, do you have any last words?"

I had some words for her. I won't repeat them.

"Now, with that out of the way, we can start." SBSB said. Several more Asari entered the room, dressed in their equivalent of surgical scrubs. They took up positions around me.

She injected me. I have no words for what followed.

It wasn't so bad for the first few minutes, while they were just disinfecting and preparing me. Just as I was starting to think that the pain meds might have been enough to dull the pain, they started cutting.

It was like an orchestra of pain playing across my entire body. I felt alternating waves of hot and cold run across my body, and waves of strange sensations as they sliced into me.

And the pain! Really, there are no words for it. I felt like my nervous system was on fire which, from some perspectives, it might have been. I'm pretty sure I saw my ribcage at one point.

It was horrifying. I'm think they almost lost me at least once, and I know that I almost slipped into unconsciousness at least twice, but they injected me with something to keep me from the sweet embrace of oblivion.

It lasted for hours. The only thing I can say for it was that it was never boring. The constant chatter from DBSB as to what horrors she was inflicting on me kept me morbidly entertained. She was careful to tell me every time they implanted a biotic node, but I lost count somewhere after thirty. Besides and there was always some new and exquisite agony to focus my attention upon.

By the seventh hour, I was pretty sure that several of the surgical assistants had tagged out, and the surgery seemed to be winding down. I was pretty worn down from the surgery, and I could really understand why that one guy had gone crazy from the pain.

On that thought, maybe I was crazy. It would be a relief, in a way, given how much pain I was in. Still, there would be times it would probably suck, like the being locked in a mental hospital part. Then again, if I was able to question my own sanity, I probably wasn't crazy.

A few more hours passed. An hour of absolutely _stupid_ pain. I had several more insights into myself during this time, and I'm pretty sure I figured out the meaning to life at one point. Unfortunately, the Asari chose to wrench my ribs back into position at that point, and I forget it in a sudden burst of unusual pain.

Eventually, they started unplugging me from the machines and grafting my skin back on. My God, I didn't even know they had taken it off. How is that even possible? After a few more minutes, the pain even stopped.

"If you can hear me," DBSB said, "you're done now. You can fall asleep, or whatever it is you pathetic humans do."

Too tired to take offence at the stub to my species, I did the sensible thing and passed out.

**A Travesty of Piece**

I woke up sometime later, once again sore all over. Strangely, I didn't have any lingering acute pains from the operation, but I chalked that up to the cubic meter of medi-gel I had undoubtedly been injected with.

Holy shit, medi-gel.

I really was in Mass Effect.

I hadn't had a lot of time to think about it, what with the operations and the medically induced comas, but I had been taken from my home, only to be medically tortured by a bunch of Asari. That was the weirdest part. If I remember correctly, Cerberus was into this sort of stuff, but I couldn't think of any Asari factions that would be willing to do this sort of thing.

Then again, it didn't help that it had been years since I had played the games. I think one had come out that I had missed, too. There could be a completely new faction that I had missed all mention of.

Frak.

With those choice words, the weight of what had happened crashed down on me. I would never see anyone again. I would never see mother, or father, or...

What was my sister's name?

What did my brother's face look like?

Who the hell was Austin, anyway?

My memory. It was damaged. That was great. I couldn't remember the specifics of my loved ones, but I could remember the details of a damned game! Only it wasn't a game, and now I was stuck in the intestines of it.

I started to laugh. There was really no alternative, given the sheer absurdity of it all.

After a few moments, the door cycled open, and BSBA entered.

"Are you okay?" She said.

I found it awfully convenient that the aliens went out of their way to speak English around me. It was nice of them, given that I didn't have any sort of translator yet.

Yet. What was I thinking? I would never get out of this cesspit.

"I'm fine." I said. "I was just..."

"I understand." BSBA said. "You're under a lot of pressure."

"What pressure?" I asked. "I sit around here all day eating through needles, and occasionally I'm subjected to abject torment. The best thing that could happen to me is a surgical mishap."

"Don't say that." BSBA gasped. "We've invested too much in you to see you fail now, and if you fail, you'll be disposed of? You don't want that, do you?"

I shook my head noncommittally.

She muttered some Asari expletive I didn't recognize under her breath, then said, "I'm here to let you out of here for exercise."

Exercise. That was good. It would be a chance to recover, raconteur the base, and perhaps find items that I could use as weapons.

Plus, I was sick of being chained down to the bed, and at this point just about anything would beat that.

"Alright, fine." I said. "I'll play along. You'll have to untie me first, though."

"Of course." BSBA said. She pressed a button on her Omni-tool, and the bonds holding me down retracted.

Almost immediately, I considered jumping up and going for a choke hold or a neck snap, but I didn't, because I was (a: stuck on a space station full of armed guards with no idea how to get off and (b: unsure how exactly to perform a neck snap or a choke hold, partially against a biotic.

So I got up out of the bed, arms and legs protesting slightly as I did so.

"Follow me." BSBA said.

She walked out of the room, and I followed.

"We can slow down if you want." She said. "You've been out for nearly two weeks; I wouldn't be surprised if your arms and legs aren't used to the strain of walking."

I grit my teeth. "I'm fine." I said.

We walked for a few minutes, then came to another door. BSBA waved her arm over the holographic interface next to the door and it slid open. I followed BSBA in.

It was a large room, particularly for a space station. There were a variety of exercise machines against one wall, and piles of large balls scattered throughout the room, along with other, more esoteric, devices.

"We'll start with basic physical capabilities." BSBA said. "Pick any of the machines, and work at your maximum sustainable pace."

I walked over to what looked like an elliptical machine build for humans, or maybe Asari. I climbed onto it, taped the interface to start it, and began to run.

I ran for a minute with no trace of tiredness sneaking into my system. Then another, and another. Still nothing.

Allow me to pause for a moment to say that this was _definitely_ unusual for me. I was never a good runner, or elliptical-er, or whatever.

Now, however, I was running at a dead sprint on an exercise machine, without tiredness, _while recovering from surgery_.

Holy shit.

I ran for several more minutes before I began to feel worn out. I could have kept going, but I decided to stop after a minute more. Always good to hold something back, after all.

"Very good." BSBA said, as I was climbing down from the machine. "Would you like to try another?"

"Sure." I said. "I'll try the treadmill."

I paused for a moment, then climbed onto the treadmill. I seemed to be recovering from the exercise faster than I used to, which I suppose was to be expected.

As I began to run, I started to think about what had happened to me.

"How long have I been here?" I blurted out as I ran.

"About thirty of your days." BSBA said.

A month. I had been missing for a month. I had always been a detached person, but my parents had to be devastated. They'd probably assume I'd been kidnaped, which in a way I had. Still, I would never see them again.

And that bothered me way less than it should have, which was what _really_ bothered me. The most I could remember about my father was a sort of vague outline, and my mother wasn't much better.

Had something happened to the memory centers of my brain during the surgery? I quickly ran through what I knew of neurology, and quickly came to the conclusion that I had no idea what might have happened to cause that kind of memory loss, but given that I could remember Councilor Udina better than my own mother, it had to have been _weird_.

Eventually, BSBA called for me to stop running. I complied, and got off the treadmill.

"We're moving on to biotics now." She said, gesturing to one of the piles of balls. "The first thing we'll do is try to summon a biotic aura. If that works, we'll move on to trying basic lifts."

"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "Why train me in biotics? Won't that make me dangerous? Do you really think I won't try to escape at the first possible moment?"

BSBA hesitated for a moment, then tapped something on her omnitool. "You're a weapon." She said plainly. "I'm not privy to the specifics myself, but you need to use biotics for the next stage of the project."

"A weapon?" I said, incredulous. "You aliens really think I'll fight for you?"

"Once the surgeon is done, you won't have a choice."

My blood went cold. This was probably worse than being an unwilling organ donor. I was going to be used as a weapon, possibly against humanity.

Needless to say, I was _way_ too distracted to summon a biotic aura.

**A Travesty of Piece**

After a few hours of sitting around trying to create an aura, I found myself back in my cell, as I had decided to think of it. I was sitting on the edge of the bed I had spent the past month chained to, considering what to do with myself.

I could try suicide, but I doubt I'd have the guts to go through with it.

I could cooperate with my captors, but that idea left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't know what they wanted to use me for, but I did know that I didn't want to be used.

That left escape.

I didn't know how to do it. But I knew one thing. I would need to be as strong as possible to do it.

I closed my eyes and began to glow with a deep red light.

As I felt the truly unique feeling of the biotic aura flare up around me, I opened my eyes.

Wait. Red?

**A Travesty of Piece**

It came time for the next round of surgery about a week later.

"Don't worry, we can put you under this time." DBSB said.

"What are you doing to me?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"We're implanting the control ports." DBSB responded. "We're grafting them to the bone, as well as adding some additional implants.

I had grown somewhat used to casually horrifying statements during my time at the Hospital California, so I think I can say it was to my credit that I didn't immediately freak out when she said 'control ports'. I know Miranda wanted to put a control chip in Shepard after she brought him back, so I know it was possible in the Mass Effect universe.

"What do you mean, control ports?" I said warily.

DBSB smiled. "You'll see."

Then she injected me, and I passed out. Again.

**A Travesty of Piece**

I awoke, with BSBA standing over me.

"You're awake. Good. You need to-"

"How long was I out?" I demanded.

"Two weeks. You were operated on twice during that period."

"Great." I muttered. That made seven weeks I had been here. Absolutely wonderful.

"As I was saying, you need to come with me." BSBA said. "It's time for your armor training."

"What do you mean?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Look at your arms." BSBA said.

I did. There were what appeared to be metal... things in my arms, one on each forearm and upper arm.

"What are these?" I asked, in my most pleasant, I'm-going-to-rip-your-head-off voice.

"Interface ports for your armor." BSBA said. "Look, I'll explain on the way. You need to come with me.

"Fine." I said. I got up, I wasn't restrained this time, and followed her out of the room. She led me to the gymnasium room I had used over the previous (subjective) week.

The door opened, and I fell in love.

A massive suit of armor was standing on the other side. I stood slightly taller than I was, and colored red, orange and silver. It was bulky, with a serious-looking wedge-shaped helmet with two eyes which appeared to be glowing slightly.

It was awesome.

"It's already been coded to your Biometrics." BSBA said. "You need to hurry up and put it on, or you will be punished."

There was no need to ask twice. As I stepped toward the suit, it opened up, plates sliding aside and the breastplate dropping forward to reveal the jet black interior.

I began to climb into the suit. It was a bit tight at first, but I got in. As my feet touched the soles of the armor and I extended my arms into the suit, I felt a strange sensation around the ports implanted in my arms, and a similar sensation in points on my legs and torso.

"Interface activated." A voice said, and it took me a moment to realize that it was in my head. "Sealing Mk. I Progressive Armor."

The breastplate slide up and the Pauldrons lowered, and in a few seconds, in was trapped in the armor.

I moved my arm.

The armor moved with me.

I took a step forward, and my foot landed with a dull thump.

A smile lit up on BSBA's face.

"Excellent." She said. Her voice sounded a little different transferred, I assume, through the audio systems of my armor.

I looked around the room. To my surprise, I spotted what looked like an elevated boxing ring set up in the middle of the area.

"Get in the ring." BSBA said. "Hurry."

I complied. As I moved, I noticed the same sensation as when my biotics were active. Were my biotic powers being used to power the armor?

"Yes, the Mark I Progressive Armor requires an implanted biotic wear to operate at peak efficiency." The voice in my head said.

That was weird.

I climbed into the boxing ring, and spotted a group of several Asari on the other side. I recognized DBSB and one of the surgical assistants, but several were new.

"Now, doctor." One of the Asari said. "Please demonstrate the efficacy of your project."

"Very well." DBSB said. "Activate the mech."

As soon as she finished speaking, what I recognized as a LOKI mech dropped from the ceiling.

And shot me in the face.

I began to reel backwards and cover my face, but I quickly realized that the attack completely failed to hurt me.

_Oh, right. Kinetic barriers_. I thought. That would have drained the kinetic energy from the attack, rendering it harmless.

That didn't mean I was safe, though. Barriers drained, and heavy pistols drained barriers fast at short range. I looked around my HUD, searching for the barrier readout. Nothing. The displays were all alien to me.

I was unarmed. I needed to end this fight quickly.

"-As you can see, the Kinetic Barriers of the Progressive Armor suit are strong enough to resist heavy pistol fire." DBSB said. "They provide considerable protection from-"

The LOKI mech shot again. Nothing happened. My barriers held, for now. "Suit, deploy weapons!" I commanded.

An Omni-tool on my right wrist activated, sheathing my armored hand in an orange hologram, four blades extended from the wrist portion of the hologram over my hand, like claws.

I sighed.

They really _had_ turned me into Wolverine.

I leapt toward the LOKI mech and slashed with my blades. However, I underestimated my strength, and the power granted to me by my armor, and wound up leaping _past_ the enemy, awkwardly slashing at the mech as I passed.

My attack scratched the armor of the LOKI mech and sent sparks flying, but that didn't deter it from shooting me in the back as I moved by it. The shot was deflected by my Kinetic Barriers.

I turned around and considered the machine in front of me. I seemed mostly invulnerable to its attacks, so I did the sensible head.

I stepped up to the machine and ripped off its head. Sparks flew as I grabbed the mech's head and twisted to the side, then the thing went limp as I separated its head from its body. I jammed by bladed hand into its chest just to be safe, ripped out a handful of circuity, and then threw the mech to the side. I turned back towards DBSB and the rest of the gaggle of Asari.

"And the Progressive Armor also provides a stable platform for the use of heavy weapons." DBSB said. She activated her Omni-tool and pressed a button. A shimmering appeared in the air around the ring, a sign of a powerful Kinetic Barrier. A hatch slid open in the floor, and a weapon rose up on a platform, a weapon I recognized as M-76 Revenant light machine gun.

No sooner than I grabbed it than five more LOKI Mechs dropped from the ceiling. I raised the machine gun and opened fire on the mechs.

Their shields shimmered as the rounds from the machine gun struck them. Undeterred, the mechs raised their pistols and opened fire.

A hail of pistol rounds struck my shields as the first of the Mechs dropped under my hail of fire. I began to strafe to the side, taking some of the pressure off my shields as the mechs adjusted their aim.

As I continued my fire, a second mech dropped. The barrel of my gun began to climb, but I knew enough about guns to expect that and compensate, if not professionally.

A third LOKI went down as I focused my fire on it. I still couldn't tell what the status of my Kinetic Barriers was, but it couldn't be good.

I charges the remaining mechs. A storm of pistol rounds bounced off my barriers as I did so. As I closed with the first mech, I stuffed my machine gun in its face and fired. At point blank range, I couldn't miss, and the brutal rain of fire tore through its shields and armor.

As the two remaining LOKIs repositioned, I swung my machine gun around and bludgeoned one with the barrel assembly of the weapon. It stopped firing but didn't go down, so I hit it a few more times.

That dropped it, and I turned to the remaining mech. I transferred the machine gun to my off hand and activated my Omni-blade.

I tore into the remaining mech, slashing with the blades of my Omni-tool. Sparks flew as my weapons sliced the machine into useless. I returned to a two-handed grip on the machine gun and turned back towards my captors.

"The Progressive Armor has one remaining capability that has not yet been demonstrated." DBSB said. "Using an advanced form of micro-fabrication technology and something similar to Omni-gel, the Progressive armor can adapt to a variety of situations. This will now be demonstrated."

Another hatch opened in the floor, and another machine gun emerged. This one, however, was on an automatic mount.

And pointed at me.

It opened fire with a series of bangs. The first few tore through my weakened Kinetic barriers, and then the rest began to strike my armor.

"Progressive Armor activating." The voice of the armor said.

An orange field appeared just over my armor in the path of the bullets, and I felt the slight strain of my biotics activating. Nothing happened for a fraction of a second, and for that brief time I felt the rain of what had to be low caliber projectiles impacting my armor.

And then it began to shimmer, and the bullets went careening off in every direction. Then the machine gun overheated, and the orange hologram disappears. A plate of ceramic dropped out of the air where the hologram had been, fell to the floor, and shattered.

"As you can see, the Progressive Armor System can withstand even a barrage from a light machine gun. It has crippling drawbacks and a high cost in the production and implementation stages, but it..."

I tuned her out as I began to listen. "Armor, do I have any sort of sensory amplification equipment on hand?"

"This system poses a full suite of audio, visual, and tactile feedback amplification suites. Would you like to activate a system?"

"Audio enhancement, please." I said.

All the sounds in the room seemed to _snap _into focus, becoming clear. The sound of the Asari conversation, the air circulation system, and the gunfire in the distance.

Gunfire in the distance?

The Asari began to look around in confusion. That was all the signal I needed. I raised my machine gun and opened fire on the Kinetic Barriers surrounding the ring. As my hail of sand grains bounced off the shields surrounding me, I bent down and picked up a heavy pistol from one of the slain mechs at my feet.

I fired with both weapons at the Kinetic Barrier surrounding me. As the machine gun overheated, I dropped it and picked up another heavy pistol. The pistols overheated, and I picked the machine gun back up, and returned to firing on the barrier.

Abruptly, it disappeared, and the rounds from my machine gun began streaking over the heads of the collected Asari.

Before the Kinetic Barriers could recharge, I ran forward and inexpertly vaulted over the wall of the ring, toward the Asari.

"Armor, deactivate all outside controls, and activate exterior speakers."

"Yes."

"And that, bitches, is why you don't give prisoners machine guns." I said, raising my weapon toward them.

Several of the Asari fumbled for weapons. I gave them no quarter. I lowered the machine gun and fired.

First, I shredded DBSB. She went down covering in holes leaking blue blood, and then I turned on the remaining Asari. The last one managed to produce a pistol and get a shot off, but it did about as much good as it did the LOKI mechs, and she went down like the rest of them.

I turned around and pressed myself against the base of the ring, holding my machine gun in what I hoped was a ready position. I burst around the corner, gun at the ready, and advanced down the side of the ring, sweeping my weapon from side to side.

As I did so, I heard more gunfire in the distance. It sounded like it was coming closer to me. I really hoped this was a rescue or breakout attempt, because I had just played _all_ my cards.

I advanced around the next corner and spotted BSBA. I leveled my machine gun at her and was about to press the firing studs when she threw her hands, one of them holding a pistol in the air.

"Don't shoot me if you want to get out of here alive." She said. "I'm Alanna T'Mosava. Council

SPECTRE. I've infiltrated this group, and I've called in the cavalry to bust us out of here. There should be Alliance Marines storming this station right now."

"Good." I said, over my armor's exterior's speakers. "Let's go, then. You go first."

"You have the heavy armor." Alanna (Formerly BSBA) said. "Shouldn't you take the lead."

"I also have the machine gun." I said. "And frankly, I don't trust you. Plus you're the high-and-mighty SPECTRE."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll take the lead. Just give me covering fire, okay?"

"Fine." I said. "Where would the Marines have boarded?"

"The bottom deck." Alanna said. "Near the vehicle bay."

"Let's get moving." I said. "Can you do tech attacks?"

"Yes." She said.

"Plus you'd be a biotic. Nice power set." I said.

We moved to the door. I readied myself to fire my machine gun while Alanna hacked the lock on the door.

As it hissed open, we stormed out of the door, Alanna sweeping her pistols across the room while I covered high with my machine gun.

At the end of the hall, I spotted a flash of pink. Alliance Marines?

"Don't shoot! We're friendly. I've got a SPECTRE here." I shouted over my armor speakers.

"Are you one of the prisoners here?" A female marine responded.

"Umm... yes." I said. I decided not to explain the whole 'superweapon' part. That could get awkward.

"Walk out slowly. Put your hands where I can see them." The marine shouted.

I dropped my machine gun and raised my hands over my head.

"What are your doing?" Alanna spat.

"Playing along." I responded. "Your saw what this suit can do, even unarmed. Plus, these are friendlies."

"Alright, fine." Alanna said. "Your do that."

Gingerly, I stepped out of the door, hands over my head. I spotted the Alliance Marines taking cover behind the corner at the end of the hall, rifles pointed at me.

"Suit, can I remove my helmet but leave my Kinetic Barriers up?" I asked

"Yes. Would your like to?"

"Yes."

There was a hissing sound as the seals holding my helmet in place disengaged, and I slowly reached down with one hand and pulled my helmet off. As I removed it, I was somewhat surprised by how thick it was.

"I'm human." I said. "I'm not hostile."

"Then why are your wearing that suit of... power armor." The Marine responded.

"Err... It's sort of complicated.


	2. Crossroads

"Wait here." The Alliance Marine who I had first encountered, whose name I learned to be Cindy, said. "We need to clear the rest of the station and pull whatever we can from their systems before they have a chance to self-destruct."

With that, the door leading to the shuttle, a Kodiak if I wasn't mistaken, closed, leaving me alone with my armor. I took a seat and placed my helmet on the seat next to me.

I then placed my armored fingers on my temples and shook my head.

I was trapped in a world I had thought to be fictional, and I had been the victim of unspeakable experiments. At least the worst was over now.

_But I'll never see home again!_ I thought. Despite the lack of memories about the familiar faces of my friends and family, there was a strong sense of longing deep inside me, combined with a frustration at not being able to _know_.

_What happened_? I had just been sucked into a completely different world for no reason. _Why me?_

I began to think of home, of all the little details I could remember. Unbidden, all the holes in my memory came to mind as well. Holes I would never be able to fill. The past week (subjective) hadn't give me much time to think about it, but I was completely lost and alone.

I broke down and began to cry. I was never going to see home again, and I was trapped in a galaxy in the path of omnicidal death machines. The Mass Effect Galaxy was a dangerous place, and I wasn't going to last five minutes. My armor was going to make me a target for every major government and two-bit merc in the galaxy, and after all the experiments that had been done on me, who knew how long I had to live.

I sat like that for a while, despairing. I'm a young man who should really be past this sort of thing, but I did anyway. I would chalk this one up to the exceptional circumstances I had found myself in. After all, the Reapers were going to show up and then I would-

_Get a hold of yourself!_ I commanded. _You're not going to survive this place by panicking or breaking down. Your need to think!_

What was the best course of action from here? I began to think on that, trying to keep distract myself from the voices telling me I would never see home again.

I had a powerful asset in my fighting suit, but no real idea how to use it. Hopefully, the Asari purged the computers of their base, as my physical ownership of the suit would give me a bargaining chip.

But who did I want to trade it to? The Progressive Armor could represent a significant step forward in ground combat technology, and could give an advantage to whoever I wound up giving it to. The last thing I wanted to do was invariably start a war and weaken the galaxy for the Reapers.

And what did I want to trade it for? Combat training? A nice house on an out-of-the-way colony? A ship with enough provisions to wait out the Reaper invasion in interplanetary space?

It was probably hopeless. There was no way I could make all the necessary decisions to pull of something like disturbing power armor technology to all the right parties in the galaxy. I was a hopeless noob in this sort of world- galaxy- and I would probably screw it all-

The door to the Kodiak opened and a familiar Marine in pink highlighted armor walked in.

"We're pretty much finished here. You were the only person we found who didn't pick up a gun as soon as they heard us coming. We pulled a partial dump of their data core, but- were your crying in here?"

I nodded. It's hard to wipe your tears away while wearing armored gauntlets.

"Look." Cindy said. "This is a Marine shuttle. There's no crying on Marine shuttles. So if you're have a problem, spit it out or get of the boat and have fun when the reactor on this place inevitably blow it to hell."

"The reactor is going to blow?" I asked, suddenly concerned with more immediate problems.

"Yeah, they always do on these places." Cindy said. "We have a VI in their system monitoring it, but they probably have some kind of manual dead-man's switch in place. So what's your problem?"

I took a deep breath. "I'm never going to see home again." I said. "And I'm probably going to get killed. Those are the biggies."

"Well, okay, if your want to go home, tell me which colony you're from, and we'll see if we can have the _Richmond_ drop your off there. Not sure what we'd do about your armor, though."

"It's not that simple." I muttered. "I'm from Virginia, on Earth."

"You're shitting me." Cindy said. "If you're from Earth, how the hell did you get all the way out here?"

"I don't know." I said.

"You got grabbed by Asari and dragged all the way out here, and you don't know how you got here?"

"Yes."

"And what do you mean, you're going to die. You got something terminal? Because I saw what you did to those scientist bitches, and that didn't look like it was done by someone on their deathbed."

"Not really." I said. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Well, alright then. You do know we can cure most cancers and stuff these days, though, right?"

"Yes."

Cindy tilted her head and activated her Omni-tool. She fiddled with it for a few moments, then spoke. "There is a colony called Virginia a few light years from here. Is that what you meant when you said you were from Virginia?"

"I'm actually... Sure. Put that down." Unless your have a category for time travel.

"Alright. I won't pry further, because there's clearly some weird shit going on here. But my superiors want to know where your want to go from here. Basically, we can return you to where you were taken from, or take your back to Alliance space with us. What'll it be?"

"What happens if I chose to go back to Alliance Space with your?" I asked. I didn't want to be dumped on some colony in the middle of nowhere with no assets.

"Well, we could find you a colony to join, or you could enlist in the Navy or the Marines. A lot of people in your situation do that, actually. Get back at the slavers who grabbed you and such."

"Enlist?" I said. "Have I mentioned that I'm biotic?"

"Really?" Cindy said, raising an eyebrow. "Your file said something about that, but-"

A summoned a crimson biotic aura around myself.

"Well, that's great. If your want to join the Marines, I'm pretty sure we can find you some extra pay. We can always use extra biotics."

"I'll consider that." I said. "What about my suit?"

Cindy took a deep breath and bit her lip. "That's the elephant in the room, isn't it? I'll be frank, I want that thing. And I'm bet this year's pay that so will Alliance High Command."

"So are you going to take it from me?" I asked.

"We can't, not legally, anyway. I we hadn't found your on this station, we could have claimed it as salvage, but as your are a civilian in legalish possession of it, an attempt to seize it would be on shaky grounds."

"Good." I said. "I'm not giving this thing away for free. I went through too damn much to get it."

"About that." Cindy said. "What exactly did they do to you? Your file wasn't really clear."

"They implanted biotic nodes in my body." I said. "And gave me implants to control the armor, plus a ton of gene mods."

"Where did they get the nodes?"

I shrugged.

"That must have sucked."

The sound of running footsteps echoed from outside the shuttle. I looked outside, and spotted a group of Alliance Marines running into the shuttle bay, black plastic bags over their shoulders. Alanna was among them, carrying one bag and levitating another biotically, her Omni-tool glowing on one arm.

"This place is gonna blow!" A male marine shouted. "They rigged the reactor core with a deadman's switch!"

As her comrades piled into the Kodiak, Cindy turned toward me with a smug grin on her face.

"Told you so."

**A Travesty of Piece**

A few hours later, I found my aboard the _SSV Richmond_, fidgeting nervously in the Captain's office.

A door opened, and a tall man with pale skin and graying hair enter the room and sat down in the desk opposite me. The room was Spartan in decoration, with little more than the metallic walls and the pain hardwood desk. My armor waited in a pile in one corner of the room. The Marines had offered to let me keep it in the armory, but I wasn't letting the suit out of my sight just yet.

"I'm Captain Franklin Miles." He said, holding out his hand toward me. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." I said, shaking his hand.

"Alright, kid, let's talk about your future." Miles said. "Sergeant Clayton said your expressed interest in joining the Marines, and that you're a Botic. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir." I said. "Both are correct."

"So, about that suit..." The Captain said. "What do you want to do with it?"

"I'd like to keep it, sir." I said frankly. I'd had some time to recover from my breakdown in the shuttle bay, and I was thinking better now. "That's not to say that I'm opposed to letting the Alliance study it, however. How much did you recover from the station?"

"Less than we'd like." The Captain said. "Some spare parts from the armor, a few weapons, and not much else. We're working on cracking the captured hard drives, but that'll take some time."

I nodded.

"As it happens, I have an idea." Miles said. "Why don't you attend Grissom Academy? If you're a biotic, you'll need training, and the Ascension Program is the best in Alliance Space. If you want to join the Alliance, that could give you a leg up."

"That sounds good, sir." I said.

The Ascension program was a pretty good biotic training course, and I would need all the training I could get if I was going to survive the Reaper Invasion.

**A Travesty of Piece**

After talking with the Captain, I found myself in the armory, performing maintenance on my armor. I was pretty sure I lacked both the skills and knowledge, not to mention the materials, to perform major repairs on the suit, but I had pulled a few field maintenance guides from the suit's hard drive and was presently working through them.

The door to the room in the armory I was using opened, and Alanna entered. I looked up as the Asari walked in, then back down at my work, one of the arm sections of the suit.

"So where are your from, really?" She asked, not unkindly, but certainly bluntly.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I said. "I'm not sure _I'd_ believe me."

"Try me." She said.

"Virginia, Earth, 2014."

"You're a time traveler." She said bluntly. "Your expect me to believe that?"

"Like I said, no, I don't."

"I'll leave that one alone for now." Alanna said. "So what are your plans for the future?"

"Alliance." I said. "Ascension Program, probably. Learn to control my shiny new biotics."

"I'm sorry about that." Alanna said. "I could have stopped them, but they were only one cell. I needed to get the intel to compromise other cells."

"I'm familiar with the principal." I muttered. "Forgive me if the knowledge fails to provide any comfort."

"I apologized." Alanna said. "And you seem to have come through the experience better for it."

I glared at her. "You really think that?"

"You seem to have gained power." Alanna said. "The gene-mods, the suit? None of that would be available to you in Alliance Space. Did you know they had three separate control systems on that suit, including one that would have killed you the moment you went rouge? I sabotaged all of them."

She activated her Omnitool and did something. A moment later, the Omnitool the crew had let me borrow beeped.

"I just sent you the information on how to remove the control systems." Alanna said. "So now you owe me your life twice."

"How do you figure?"

"Once when I saved you from the kill system in your armor, and now when I saved you from having one of the control systems activating inevitably, like on the battlefield. Don't you think that earns me at least a little trust?"

"Fine." I said, looking down. "What makes you think I'll be on a battlefield ever again?"

"The way you gunned down those scientist? The way you carried yourself aboard the station?" Alanna said. "You seem like the combative type, and you have that armor. Either you're going to find your way into a fight, or a fight's going to find you."

"Really?" I asked.

"I'm a Spectre." Alanna said simply. "I've been doing this a long time. I know a few things."

"So what do you want from me?" I asked.

"Am I that transparent?" Alanna replied. "Because I always thought that-"

"Everybody wants something." I said. "And I think you'd have better things to do with your time than talk to me for giggles."

"Fine." Alanna said. "I want your body."

"Excuse me?" I asked, incredulous. That was a little forward, even for an Asari. Plus, we had just met. There was no way that-

"I'm sorry." She said, the expression on her face indecipherable. "A mistake of the translation. What I meant that was I wanted what those people back there did to you, the gene mods and implants."

"And how would I give those to you?" I asked. "I was unconscious for most of it, and I doubt that I would have the background to explain it to you. Besides, would gene mods for Humans even work on Asari?"

"No, but the information could benefit all the Council races and-"

"Not just the Asari?" I replied. Spectres were supposed to be loyal only to the Council, but I found it hard to believe that an agent could just throw away their loyalty to their home power so easily. Alanna had an angle, I was sure of it.

"I would- no." Alanna said. "I am merely requesting that you agree to submit to a medical examination. Nothing too drastic."

"Well, what's my assurance that the information won't be used against humanity?" I asked. "Because the Asari already have enough advantages."

"This information will not be used solely to benefit the Asari!" Alanna said, the tone of her voice increasing.

"This test subject doesn't trust you!" I shot back. "Until yesterday, you were sticking needles in me!"

"I think this conversation is over." Alanna said. Without another word, she turned around and walked out of the armory room.

I shrugged and opened the data she had sent me. Those control circuits weren't going to remove themselves.

**A Travesty of Piece**

After about fifteen minutes of independent work, it became clear that I would not be able to remove the control circuit devices myself without doing serious damage to the armor systems, something I was at loathe to do. I may have been biotic, but I still had little idea how to do anything with those powers beyond operating my armor. My armor was the one thing setting me apart from every other idiot on the battlefield, and with the Reaper invasion coming, I was sure to find myself on the battlefield sooner or later.

Speaking of the Reaper Invasion, I needed to figure out what year it was. I stopped working for a moment and opened my Omnitool and looked around for a moment before finding a calendar application.

According to the Earth Calendar, it was March 15, 2180. That was good. I had three years to prepare for the Eden Prime Event and the events of Mass Effect One. Three years was less than optimal, but it was plenty of time to learn how to be dangerous. Given my potential as a biotic, though, the Ascension Program seemed like a good first step.

Back to the topic at hand. I needed to remove, or at least neutralize, the control circuits in my armor, and I couldn't do that alone. I stood up from my workbench and walked out into the armory proper.

"Hey, you need anything?" The ship's armorer, Adam Tanner, said.

"Yeah." I replied. "I'm trying to remove some systems from my armor, but I think it's a bit beyond my skillset."

"What are you trying to pull?" Adam asked. "I saw the vids that Spectre pulled from the station records. That suit seems pretty well set for any fight I could think of."

"Control systems." I explained. "I wasn't on that station my choice, remember? Those Asari bitches wanted to have some way of ensuring I didn't... do exactly what I did to them."

"I saw that part, too."

"So, can you help me?"

"Sure." Adam said, standing up from his bench and walking over to the room where my armor was stored.

"Oh, here's the details on the control systems." I said, and activated my Omnitool. With a few swipes of my fingers, I sent the chief armor the information Alanna had given me on the control systems.

"Thanks." Adam said, as he walked into my room in the armory. "Let's take a look at this, shall we?"

He activated his Omnitool and began examining the data on the control systems.

"Alright." He said, after a moment, "The first one is in the back unit, here."

Adam tapped a location on the back of the armor, and I went to work removing the relevant panel from the suit. It went like that for some time, with the armor calling out what to do and me doing the grunt work. It was slow going, but I became a lot more familiar with the inner workings of my suit as we worked.

I had to hand it to those Asari, they really knew how to build a suit of power armor, which was strange, considering that no one else in the galaxy had done so. As so far as I could tell, the workmanship was excellent.

After about fifteen minutes, we pulled out the first control circuit, an override device about the size of my fist designed to lock the motors and synthetic muscle of the armor, rendering me helpless.

As we got to work on the next device, Adam started asking some rather difficult questions.

Pop culture.

"So, have you seen that new Blasto vid?" He asked, clearly attempting to be friendly. We had gotten along well so far, given our limited contact.

"Oh yeah, Blasto. First Hanar Spectre, right?" I replied deftly, easily removing all doubt that I was a time traveler.

Or something.

"Yeah." Adam said slowly. "Everyone knows that. What did you think of the vid, though?"

"I thought the casting was excellent, but the subplots could have been handled more elegantly." I said. "The writing was mediocre as always, but it was good for some mindless entertainment."

Adam laughed. "Film critic, huh? My cousin is in that line of work. Never knew someone we just pulled off a slaver station to be so interested in the cinematic arts, though."

I put on my best fake smile.

"Um... Yes." I said.

Adam chuckled. "That wasn't a question. What about that Turian remake of _Romeo and Juliet_? What did you think of that?"

"It was alright." I said. "I found it kinda funny listening to Turians trying to speak in Elizabethan English."

"I thought it was in a modern Turian dialect."

"I have a bad translator." I said. "I mean, before I got grabbed by those slavers."

Adam narrowed his eyes. "I see."

"So, uh, how's it going getting that control circuit out?" I asked, skillfully changing the subject.

"Well." Adam said, foolishly falling victim to my clever ploy. "This one's a series of breakers on the power plant. When activated, they would cut power to selected parts of the armor." He grunted and tore something out of the suit. "Not anymore."

"What's the third system?" I asked. "I couldn't really make anything out on those schematics."

"Poison gas release in the environmental systems." He said. "Nasty stuff. G3 Gas."

I grimaced. "Let's get that one out, stat."

"Stat?"

"You know, right away? Quickly?"

"No one says that." Adam said.

"Oh." I said. "That's unfortunate. It's a cool expression."

"Maybe if you lived in 2004." Adam said, looking at me funny.

**A Travesty of Piece**

After making my armor safe to wear, I was rather hungry, so I decided to go to the mess hall to get something to eat. After getting lost several times on the five-hundred-meter-long ship, I found my way to the mess.

It was smaller than I expected, and there were only a few people there. I activated my Omnitool and looked at the time. It was in the middle of a watch, so many crewmembers would be on watch or in their bunks.

I shrugged and walked over to the window. I hadn't really been briefed on what to do about food, but I assumed the Alliance was going to feed me. After a brief consideration, I grabbed a tray and walked up to the severing window.

I was wordlessly given several lumps of... Something. I wasn't really sure what it was, but I grabbed a fork and spoon and took it over to an empty table. I stuck my fork in they greyish lump, and nervously picked a chunk out of it.

"Go ahead, the beef protein doesn't taste nearly as bad as it looks."

I turned around. The speaker was a woman in an Alliance uniform, though I wasn't yet familiar enough with the various Navy insignias to recognize what her rank or position were.

I turned back to my tray and took a bite of the lump, trying not to breathe as I did so. I tasted... like beef, actually. Sort of. It was still pretty bad, but edible. I decided I wasn't nearly as hungry as I thought I was.

"Hi, I'm Alex, from High-Energy Systems." The woman said. I turned to face her again. "Nice to meet you," she continued.

I needed to introduce myself. I didn't want to give them my real name, for some reason, but I needed to say something. "I'm Mark." I said. What the hell. It was a name I'd always liked.

"So, I heard we pulled you off that station." She said. "What did they do to you there?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." I said. I really didn't want to dwell on that.

"Okay, I understand." Alex said. "So... where were you from before that?"

"Virginia." I said. "Small Terminus colony, got wiped out by slavers."

Fortunately, I had taken time to research this 'Virginia' place, and conveniently, it had, in fact, been wiped out by slavers in the right time frame to fit my story. Nice piece of luck there.

"Too bad." Alex said, frowning. "You have my prayers. So, how are you liking things on the _Richmond_?"

"She seems like a good ship." I said honestly. I had no standards by which to judge Mass Effect warships, but this ship had saved me, after all.

"I'm glad you think so." Alex responded. "So what do you like to do for fun?"

"I haven't had much time for that, lately." I muttered, looking down.

"Oh, right." Alex said sheepishly. "I guess you wouldn't have."

"But I like writing, reading, that sort of thing." I said.

"Oh, you do?" Alex said, looking back up.

"Yeah, I turn pages pretty quickly."

"What do you mean?"

"Pages?" I said. "Like on a book?"

"Oh, a book. I wasn't aware there were that many of those anymore." Alex said. "Virginia wasn't a low-tech colony, was it?"

"No, I don't think so."

"What do you mean, you don't think so? Didn't you live there? Isn't that the sort of thing you would know?"

"Umm... yes." I said, trying to sort through the questions and find the correct answer that would keep my story intact. It was harder than I expected. "That's exactly right."

"What's right?"

"I would know if it was a low-tech colony, and it wasn't." I said, trying to project an air of finality.

I failed miserably.

"Okay, but they why would you say that you turn pages?" Alex asked, tilting her head. "No one does that anymore."

"A slip of the tongue, I suppose." I answered.

"Oh, well then." Alex said. She stood up and walked to the other side of the table from me, and sat down. "How's the food?"

I took another bite, this time from a green blob. It tasted... vegetable? Maybe? "I've had better." I said. "I've had a lot better."

"Haven't we all?" Alex laughed. "We were at the end of our patrol cruise when we got word of the station operating in this area, and we had to run over here without having a chance to resupply. Therefore, where all eating reconstituted chemical junk."

They were all eating reconstituted chemical junk because of me? That made me feel a little uncomfortable, actually. "Thanks." I managed.

"It's okay, we all get extra sailing pay for the mission." Alex said. "And that armor of yours is certainly interesting. I bet the marines want to get their hands on that."

"Yeah, they pretty much do." I said, rolling my eyes. "I think I'm going to hang onto it, though, at least for now. Not sure I want to just give something like that away."

"I'm sure the Alliance would pay for It."

"Not really what I mean." I said.

"Oh, you mean like..."

"Never mind." I said. I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do myself. I was a lot of responsibility to have just dumped on me. I took a few more bites of reconstituted chemical junk as I considered it.

Alex produced her own meal from somewhere, and we ate the rest of our meal in silence.

**A Travesty of Piece**

After a few days of travel, awkward conversations, Godawful food, and mostly keeping to my cabin and frantically familiarizing myself with the science, technology, and pop culture of the Mass Effect universe, we arrived in the Vetus system, the home port of the _Richmond_ and home of the planet Elysium, as well as the Jon Grissom Academy. My new home.

I sighed as I looked at the approaching planet on the display hologram. My life was changing faster than I would have thought possible a subjective month ago. _I suppose that when you wish for adventure more than anything else, this is what you get._ I thought. _Given my luck, I suppose it's only natural that this is how my wish got answered._

I looked back at the suit of armor behind me. It was bulky, angular, and beautiful, the one good thing about this experience so far, and even it came with heavy drawbacks. It would make me a point of political contention, far more than I had ever wanted to be. I had the responsibility of deciding to whom I gave the power the suit and the technology it represented.

I had searched the extranet for mentions of a technologically-adept Asari terrorist group, but I had found nothing. Either they covered their tracks well, or there was someone in a position of power trying to hide them.

However, if what Alanna had said was true, they were still out there somewhere, and I had a feeling I hadn't had by last encounter with them.

With a shudder, the ship docked with the much more massive space station. The door to the engineering space I was using opened, and Captain Miles entered. "Were here." He said. "I've been working overtime to get everything ready for your enrollment at the Academy. Since you've expressed interest in joining the Marines, the Alliance is willing to take you as a Ward. Alliance High command has offered you a fund of one million credits as a sign of goodwill, so you'll have plenty of pocket money until you decide what to do with that suit. Anyway, it's time to see your new home."

"What about my armor?" I asked, eyeing the suit in the center of the room.

"It will be moved to your dorm room." Captain Miles said. "I already have people on that."

"And they won't scan it while they're moving it?" I said.

"Of course not." The Captain said.

Naturally, I didn't trust them, so I had ordered the suit to run full combat level internal jamming while it was being moved. That would probably force the Alliance to be more intrusive than I was hoping they'd be willing to be. If they were willing to get more physical, there really wasn't anything I could do.

"So." I said. "Which way to the school?"

**A Travesty of Piece**

A short time later, I found myself staring at the door of a transport pod as it slowly opened, giving me my first glance of my new home.

I ducked out of the pod as the door opened, and stepped into the hallway.

Sargent Cindy stepped out of the pod behind me. She had been assigned to oversee me while I transferred to the Jon Grissom Academy.

"Your Armor should already be in your dorm room." She said. "Anyway, its daycycle on the station, so do you want to go to your room, or do you want me to show you to your class?"

"I'll go to class." I said. Might as well get that over with.

"That's this way, then." Cindy said, waving.

I followed her through a maze of corridors for several minutes. Inside, the station looked like a roomier version of the _Richmond_.

"So, this station is over a kilometer long." Cindy said, "And it houses over eight thousand people."

"Wow." I muttered.

"Anyway." Cindy said. "He's your classroom."

I turned to face an airtight door much like many of the others I had seen on the station. Hesitantly, I reached out and pressed the 'open' button. The door slid open, and I stepped in.

Oddly enough, it looked surprisingly familiar, rows of desks, these with hologram displays, extended across the room, with several larger holographic displays at the front of the room. Students dressed in a nondescript black uniform sat at the desks, and a teacher in a blue uniform sat at an elevated desk at the back. Just like home, but with more holograms.

The teacher looked up. She was a severe looking woman of European Ancestry, with the first pair of glasses I had seen since arriving on her face.

"So." She said, "You must be the new transfer student, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am." I said.

"Class, look up." She said. "We have a new student. Transfer, you may introduce yourself."

"Hello." I said. "I'm Mark Black. My interests are history, international politics, and biotics. I hope we have a great time together."

A girl near the back of the room stood up. "Can Mr. Black sit next to me? Please?" She said, pointing at an empty desk next to her.

The teacher sighed. "Fine."

"Thank you." The girl said.

I walked over to the desk the girl had indicated and sat down as the teacher looked back to her work. I sat down, then stopped, uncertain how to proceed.

The girl who had asked me to sit next to her stood and walked over to my side.

"The first thing you've got to do it boot it up." She said, pointing at a button. "Then you use the retinal scanner to identify yourself and log in. After that, just pick a lesson and your good to go! You can call the teacher over if you need help, but I wouldn't count on her."

"Alright." I said, reaching over to the indicated button and pressing it. "By the way, why are you so interested in me? I mean-"

"You've been all over the Naval Institute Netsite." She said. "You are the one they pulled off that Asari station, right?"

I took a deep breath. This could be a critical moment in my life for the next... However long I was stuck here. "Yes, I am."

She made a sharp intake of breath. "Really? Did you really fight your way free with only a surgical omnitool and a bit of Saran Wrap when you heard the Marines coming?"

"Um... no." I said. "I mean, I had a handgun, too."

"That's still cool!" She said. "I mean, I figured you had a gun, but the Alliance hasn't said anything official on the subject. Actually, all they've really said is that they rescued a prisoner from a rogue Asari research station, and that the Prisoner had fought his way free when he heard the Marines boarding the station. Someone leaked that he was enrolling in the Academy a few hours ago, and since we don't get too many transfers, I was hoping that..."

"That's me." I said. "In the flesh."

"So." She said. "I'm Serena Browning, by the way. What did they do to you on that station?"

"I can't really say." I said. "Other than that it sucked, and that it turned my Biotics red."

Serena's eyes widened. "You're a biotic? That means you're in the Ascension Project, right?"

"Yes, I am." I said.

"Me too!" Serena said. "Want to do some Biotics practice after lessons are over?"

"Sure." I said. "I need all the practice I can get. I'm not very good yet."

Serena smiled. "Maybe I can show you a thing or two."

"Maybe."

"So, then, it's a date." Serena said. "Anyway, I should probably get back to work before Ms. Shamshel gets pissed at me. See you after class."

As Serena returned to her seat, I went through the process of logging into my station. When I opened the home menu, I found a message waiting for me from one Iris Steele. I opened it.

_Hello_. It read. _It is nice to meet you. I'm Iris Steele. I heard about your being rescued from the station, and I saw a large crate being delivered to your dorm room. What was it?_

_It's a souvenir_. I replied. _Of something I'd rather not revisit. _

_It's from the station, isn't it?_ Iris sent. _Tell me what it is? What did they let you keep?_

_I'd rather not say over the messaging system._

A white-haired girl near the front of the classroom stood up. "Ms. Shamshel." She said in a cold voice. "I need to go to the bathroom, as does Mr. Black. May we leave?"

"Fine. Do whatever you want." Ms. Shamshel said, ignoring the snickers from several students.

With surprising speed, Iris walked over to my workstation and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up. "Let's go." She said.

Moments later, we were in the hallway, walking toward what I presumed were the bathrooms.

"So." Iris said. "What was in the box?"

"A suit of powered armor." I said. "I suppose it'll be all over the news soon enough."

"Impressive." Iris said. "It must possess a highly compact reactor and synthetic muscle bundles that exceed the currently available market models."

"It does." I said. "It also has some pretty impressive servo motors, and a neat array of sensor systems and other stuff."

"What other stuff?" Iris said.

"Well, it has a pretty creative use of omnigel technology."

"Explain."

"Well, it uses plates of omnigel material to enhance and supplement its kinetic barriers." I said. "It can stand up to some pretty heavy concentrated fire without a problem, and project blades and stuff too."

"Interesting." Iris said. "You must show me this suit immediately." 


	3. Down the Dark Path?

I stepped into the Biotics gym behind Serena, looking around. It was a large space, with racks along the wall near the door holding a variety of objects. Medicine balls, dumbbells, weighted cubes, Biotic puzzles, and so forth. They had every variety of Biotic training tool I had read about on the _Richmond_, and then some.

Serena pressed a button on the wall, and I felt the gravity in the room decrease.

"Makes practicing throws easier." She said, walking over to the medicine balls and grabbing two large ones. "Now, we're going to practice tossing and retrieving these balls with Biotics, okay?"

I nodded. "So to throw, I just do this, right?" I said, making a pushing motion with one hand as I activated my Biotics.

Red light began to rise from my skin, then it lanced out toward one of the balls Serena was holding, striking it and sending it flying across the room.

"Nice." Serena said. She made a pulling motion, and the ball came drifting lazily back towards her. "Now try curving it."

I repeated the motion, and sent the ball flying again, straight as an arrow.

"So," Serena said, as she retrieved the ball, "What did they do to you on that station? It must have been pretty bad."

"It was." I said, failing the throw again. "Surgery, gene mods, that sort of thing. It was pretty bad. At least I got a cool suit of Power Armor out of it, though."

Serena froze. "Power Armor? What do you mean?"

"It's called the Progressive Armor." I explained. "It has all the normal stuff for powered armor, plus a platoon's worth of kinetic barriers. It also has a dynamic fabricator system that allows it to create plates of enhanced omnigel material to block sustained attacks."

"Wow." Serena said. "That could be a game changer. I mean, it could change the face of infantry combat. What's the status of the armor?"

"Well, first of all, the first few guys they gave the implants required to use the armor to melted." I said. "And I think you have to be biotic to use the armor. So that means that it would probably only be a real benefit to the Asari."

"Damn Asari." Serena said.

"What do you mean?"

"I just don't particularly like them." Serena explained. "I'm not a racist, but they've had it too good for too long. They run the Citadel Council, and they did nothing to earn it."

"I see." I said. "That's an interesting opinion."

"And besides, have you noticed how they always have the most advanced technology?" Serena continued. "All Prothean relics are supposed to be shared with the whole Council, but how do they have better science in most areas when everyone knows that the Salarians are better scientist?"

"That's an interesting point." I said. "Why do think that is?"

"I think they have a Proethan relic, a big one, which they aren't sharing." Serena said, then seemed to deflate. "I'm sorry. I probably sound crazy. Everyone else I've said this to thinks so."

"No." I said. "I think you're right."

I distinctly remembered hearing something about the Asari having some temple or another that contained a Prothean VI feeding them advanced technology. I wondered how Serena had managed to piece that together.

"Really?" Serena said, looking up at me. "You really mean that?"

"Yeah, I do." I said. "And I think that the Alliance needs to bulk up its defenses big time. But that's not important right now. We were practicing Biotics."

"Right." Serena said. "Try that curved push again."

I did. I failed, again.

"This might take a while." Serena said.

[x]

An hour later, I was tired, hungry, and Biotically worn out. However, I still had the appointment with Iris to show her my Progressive Armor, to which Serna was now insisting that she be allowed to attend.

"I want to see it too." Serena said. "This could be the biggest development since the invention of Eezo toothbrushes, but in war, which is vastly more important than dental health. There's no way I'm missing this."

"Do what you like." I said.

Somehow, that led to me walking to my dorm room with Serena hanging on my arm, her nails digging into my skin.

When we finally got there, Iris was waiting outside my door, staring down the hallway.

"Hello?" I said.

"You're late." Iris said.

"Sorry." I muttered. "I was busy trying to gain control of my otherworldly powers."

"That's not important." Iris said. "Show me the armor."

"Fine." I said, opening the door to my room. "It's in the large crate."

Iris was in the room and opening the crate standing next to my bed before I could blink. I stepped inside.

It was actually a pretty nice room. It was decorated in the typical future-y Mass Effect style, with a nice bed and an empty bookshelf, a study desk, and some other odds and ends. The dominating feature was the massive shipping crate that reached nearly to the ceiling and was at least four feet on a side. I vaguely wondered how they had gotten it through the door, but decided it was better not to ask.

Iris had gotten the top of the front peice off of the crate, revealing the top of the Armor. It was standing up, in its 'Open' configuration, so the inner gel lining that contacted my skin when I was using it was showing.

"Wow. Iris muttered, looking at it. "This is just... wow."

"I'm glad you like it." I said. "What do you think-"

"Put it on." Iris said. "We're going down to the kill house."

"They have one of those here?" I said, shock showing on my face. "I thought that this was a school?"

"They have one of everything here." Serena said. "Anyway, I don't oppose the idea. I want to see this thing in action."

"No." I said. "There is no way that I'm-"

[x]

I stepped up to the center of the kill house, all systems on my armor operational. I held a training assault rifle in each hand. Even those sized for the largest of hands were tiny in my Power Armored grip.

The room was covered, floor to ceiling, in uniform tiles of white plastic material. It was smaller than the Biotics gym, but not by much. Doors lined the walls, with numbers written on them in read, the only splash of color in the room.

"Okay." Iris said over the intercom, her voice flat. "I've overridden the kill house systems to set the weapons to mostly lethal, but they're programed to stop firing as soon as your kinetic barriers drop. Do you understand?"

"Um, yes." I said, wondering why I had agreed to this.

"Then get ready. Attackers are coming in now." Serena said.

I raised my weapons. Several sections of floor elevated, providing cover. I rushed over and pressed my armored bulk against one, listening with my suit's senses as footfalls entered the chamber.

They were behind me. Great.

I spun around and dodged to the side, servos wiring, then opened fire with both my assault rifles as I surveyed the area.

The enemy were LOKI mechs, armed with their usual Heavy Pistols. I dodged as they fired at me, dropping first one, then two, mechs with what might charitably be called barrage fire.

As the mechs went down, electricity crawling over their bodies, I spun around and pressed myself against another pillar. I spotted a trio of LOKIs approaching me from the opposite direction.

I gave my guns a second to cool off, then opened fire, pellets of metal striking the kinetic barriers of the mechs and dropping them, then continuing onward to strike in tiny bursts of electricity.

One mech went down, and I ducked behind the pillar as its comrades returned fire. The second the barrage of hits against the pillar slackened, I stepped out from behind it, assault rifles flashing.

Three heavy pistol rounds were deflected harmlessly against my kinetic barrier, then I brought both of the surviving mechs down in a hail of fire.

I advanced toward the fallen enemy, then froze behind a pillar as I heard heavy footfalls coming from by right. I smiled. I think it was about time that I showed off.

Activating my Mass Effect drivers, I crouched, then sprang into the air, thrusters flaring. My assault rifles chattered as I rose above the forest of pillars, taking out two LOKI mechs before they knew what was happening.

The few rounds that hit the YMIR mech, though, did squat. I thrusted forward and to the side, still dropping LOKI mechs as I landed on a pillar. A targeting laser danced across my chest, and I activated my Progressive system.

My Biotics flared red, and snakes of Omnigel slithered out from several points on my armor, forming a plate the size of a dinner platter between me and the YMIR. As the YMIR opened up with its twin mass accelerator cannons, the rounds sparked off the plate, slowly draining my Kinetic Barriers, though they were doing less than the three surviving LOKI mechs and their heavy pistols.

I let the YMIR spin its wheels for a second, then started shooting out the LOKI mechs around it. My kinetic barriers were about half down when that was done, and the YMIR was bringing its rocket launcher to bear.

As the mass accelerator fire cut out, I went into interceptor mode. Time seemed to slow as the targeting laser danced across my chest, and I watched as rocket exhaust spread out of the vents on the back of the YMIR's rocket launcher like ink spilled into water. I raised my Assault rifle, my fingers tightening on the trigger as I reached a symbiotic state with my armor.

I pulled the trigger.

Something exploded around the YMIR's left arm as time seemed to return to normal. Sensation rushed into my head as my perception of time returned to normal, and I shivered inside my armor.

As the smoke surrounding the YMIR's left arm cleared, I opened fire, inaccurately, with my assault weapons. Its kinetic barriers flared as a fraction of my shots hit it. The mech itself seemed uncertain how to proceed. Slowly, it raised its mass accelerator cannons.

I jumped into the air, thrusting to the side and activating my biotics. I threw a push at the LOKI which, as expected, sent me tumbling backwards. My Gyroscopes tumbled as I flew through the air, my thrusters firing intermittently to slow me down.

My landing was... less impressive than I had hoped.

As I picked myself up off the floor, I considered my situation. The crippled YMIR couldn't follow me here, the space between the pillars separating us was too small. I paused for a moment, letting my badly depleted kinetic barriers recover from the fight.

After a few seconds, I heard footsteps approaching me. I charged forward, spotting a LOKI mech as it emerged from behind a pillar. I changed my course slightly as I locked my rifles to my armor, angling toward the mech.

I hit the Mech like a raging bull. I felt shock as I stuck, and I rode the mech to the floor, sparks flying as we slid across the ground. I punched the mech in the center of the chest, and it stopped moving.

Grabbing my cooled rifles off my thigh locks, I sprayed fire as I rose at the... Nothing approaching me. That was embarrassing. I recovered quickly, as I heard footsteps approaching from behind.

Spinning around, I spotted two LOKI mechs approaching me. I threw one LOKI mech away like a ragdoll, then shot the other in the head as its heavy pistol rounds bounced off my kinetic barrier.

I began advancing through the forest of pillars, toward the heavy footfalls of the YMIR. As I reached it, I sprang out from behind a pillar and sprayed fire at its exposed backside, then ducked and ran as it turned.

The sound of mass accelerator rounds on the floor of the kill house sounded as the YMIR saturated my previous location with fire. I flared my thrusters and sprang up, pouring fire toward the head of the YMIR.

I repeated the process twice before the thing went down. To this down, I don't know how long I fought. It felt like an eternity, like the eternity that separated me from home. I realized that, despite my damaged memory, I was _mad_, and I poured that anger out into flooring every damn mech they sent against me.

Eventually, I think it was that anger that got me. I exposed myself with my kinetic barriers low to a horde of mechs, and from there it was over in seconds.

I dropped my weapons as my kinetic barriers failed, breathing heavily. My Armor regulated my body temperature and provided me with hyperoxygenated air, among other things, but I was still out of shape from spending more than a month in surgery.

As the mechs still able to walk returned to the doors they had been deployed from, I walked toward the door, unsealing my helmet and pulling the massive wedge of metal off my head.

As I stepped out of the training room, I was greeted by a crowd. Dozens of students, all in the black uniform of the Jon Grissom Academy, were standing in the viewing room, staring up at the monitors displaying the inside of the kill house.

Someone pressed their way through the crowd toward me. It was Serena and Iris.

"That was incredible! Serena said. "Did you see the carnage that you caused in there? You were awesome!"

"I gained a substantial amount of useful data." Iris said, in her usual tone. "I believe it should be rather useful in the future."

"Is that him?" Someone said.

"I think it is!" Someone else shouted.

"Where did you get that armor!"

"Ahem." An adult loudly cleared their throat. "Students, please disperse. Mr. Black, Ms. Browning, Ms. Steele, if I may have a word with you?"

The students seemed to vanish like smoke in the wind. An older man, dressed in the blue staff uniform, approached men and the girls.

"Mr. Black, what made you think that operating Powered Armor in out kinetic training room would be considered acceptable?"

"Before we start, just for the record, I would like to establish that this was not my idea, nor was I a voluntary participant." I said.

"Noted." The man said. "I am Dean Crane. I am in charge of discipline at this school, and I would like to ask you a question."

"Yes, sir?" I said.

"Where did you learn to fight like that, son?" He exclaimed.

"It was mostly the armor, sir." I said. "I just did what felt natural."

"Hum." He said. "Mr. Black, pease change out of that armor, then come to my office. Ms. Browning, Ms. Steele, clean this place up."

[x]

"So." Dean Crane said. "I understand that you received that suit of Power Armor from a close encounter with a group of Asari terrorists, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir." I said.

"What if I were to tell you that they were part of a secret group called the Knife of the Goddess, an Asari supremacist organization."

"I would be skeptical, sir, as I have heard nothing of the sort from Alliance Intelligence." I said.

"Alliance Intelligence would only tell you if it benefited them." The Dean said. "Which it wouldn't. There is a chance that you could talk, and that might disrupt the sterling reputation of the Asari. It wouldn't do for them to have some group of Cerberus copycats running around."

"And why wouldn't that benefit Alliance Intelligence?" I asked.

"Why do you think?"

I thought about that for a moment. If this guy was telling the truth, then this definitely wasn't the Mass Effect I knew. But why wouldn't Alliance Intelligence...

Of course.

"Because they want to get onto the council." I said. "And they need the support of the Asari to join. That's why they can't risk offending them."

"Exactly." Dean Crane said.

"But then how do you know about them?" I asked, suspicious. I was starting to get bad vibes from this guy.

"The evidence is there for anyone to see, if you dig deep enough." He said. "Most would simply prefer not to."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Who are you?" I asked.

"A concerned citizen."

I relaxed, ostensibly. "Fine."

"So," he said, "there will be no punishment for you antics this time, beyond helping your friends clean up the simulation room, but the same will not be true of future events."

"Thank you." I said.

"You may go."

I went.

[x]

Just like that, on a small blue orb called Earth, January turned to February. A month had passed since I had arrived at Jon Grissom Academy, and I spent it frantically faminizering myself with the minutea of the Mass Effect universe.

Somewhere along the way, I became friends with Serena and Iris. Despite much pressure from Iris, I hadn't put on my suit since that day. I guess I was afraid of it, maybe, of what it represented.

And what it made me become.

I advanced in math, science, and history, and spent at least three hours of leisure time each day either at the shooting range or working out, to recover from my surgery and prepare myself for the Reaper invasion. I was doing pretty well in my studies, and I was finally feeling like I was starting to fit in. In fact, I had become pretty popular following the demonstration of my suit's powers. The random bouts of depression and homesickness were finally starting to clear up, and things were going pretty well, or at least as well as they could with a giant Sword of Damocles hanging over my head.

In fact, I had become pretty popular following the demonstration of my suit's powers,

Then I got the message. It was an anonymous text-only communication that appeared on my desk in the middle of class one day. It simply read: _What are your feelings on the ascendance of Humanity?_

I was tempted to ignore it, but I responded, _generally positive_.

A almost immediately, the response came: _Do you wish for the item in your position to benefit Humanity alone or everyone, including those who wronged you?_

I hesitated for a moment. I could sense where this was going. Hesitantly, I typed out my message.

_Are you Cerberus?_

I waited for a nearly a minute before the response came.

_Yes. I wish to have a further discussion with you. _

I paused. Did I really want to get involved with Cerberus? On one hand, they were a group of dangerous murders who were ultimately controlled by an Indoctrinated Illusive Man. On the other hand, their hearts were in the right place, at least from my admittedly humanist point of view. However, they had resources, and they were aware of the threat of the Reapers.

Maybe I use them to fight the Reapers and protect Humanity.

_What do you want?_ I typed.

_There will be a failure of the monitoring system for the school at 0700 hours tomorrow. Go to the Biotics training gym. An Agent will meet you there. I sincerely hope you are there. Perhaps we can make a deal._

The messenger closed.

What do I do?

[x]

At the fated hour, nothing seemed to happen. Classed didn't start for another two hours, and most students weren't up yet, so I was fairly confident I could make it to the Biotics Gym without running into anyone.

I had stayed up all night thinking about what had been said to me over the messenger, and eventually I came to the conclusion that Cerberus represented the best chance of the technology being use for humanity. I would give Cerberus access to the suit, on the conditions that they use their front companies to provide the technology to the Alliance, with an export ban. I would try to use my knowledge to get involved enough with Cerberus to gain resources, which would be practically impossible to gain on my own, but not central enough that I wouldn't have an exit strategy when Cerberus went really bad.

Now certain in my decision, I walked out of my room and started making my way to the Biotics Gym, wondering if I was being indoctrinated. Was there some bit of Reaper tech in my suit that was influencing my decisions?

No, everything I was doing seemed perfectly rational. I think. Two plus two equals four. Was it possible that I was being controlled on so basic a level that-

Nothing good would come of this line of thought. I made a decision, and I had to stick with it. While still looking out for Indoctrination. It was possible that just knowing about Indoctrination would provide me with some protection, and I had always been called stubborn, if nothing else.

After a few minutes of walking, I reached the Biotics gym and opened the door. A man in the blue of the staff uniform was standing next to the door, eating a candy bar.

"I'm a great admirer of your work." He said. "You really did a number on those Asari back on that station."

"Um, thanks." I said. That had to mean this guy was Cerberus. There was no way anyone who wasn't Alliance would know about that.

"So let's get down to business while no one can hear us, shall we?" He said. "We've had our eyes on you since you came off that station. Fact of the matter is, you're a ghost. Either you came from some anti-computer backwater that does not keep digital records, which your adequate health seems to contradict, or something strange is going on."

"Your point?" I said.

"Point is, you have on one to rely on." He said. "Cerberus can offer you a lot, if you're willing to help us."

"You want the Progressive Armor." I said.

"Exactly. We want it for humanity." He said.

I took a deep breath. "On two conditions. First, that you use your front holdings to disseminate the results of your research to Alliance, selling them suits if you manage to create them, with an export ban. Second, that you give me all necessary resources to fight the Reapers."

He froze. "How do you know about that?"

"You said it yourself, something strange is going on." I said. "But here's a freebie. The Asari have a Prothean VI under the Temple of Athame that's been feeding them advanced technology. What do you say about that?"

"One second, please." The man said. He took a step away from me and pressed a finger against his ear.

"Alright." He said, a moment later. "We accept your deal, but we have a provision for you. Gain evidence for this acquisition you've made against the Asari, and you'll have your anti-Reaper cell. I just hope you don't think this is the end of this conversation."

"How do you expect me to do that?" I said. "Breaking a secret that's been held for thousands of years isn't exactly easy."

The man smiled. "That's the best part."

The door slid open, and Iris and Serena entered the room.

"What are you two doing here?" I said, looking at them.

"I've actually been considering joining Cerberus for a while." Serena said. "I mean, humanity needs an edge if we're going to do well in the Galactic community, and when you said that you agreed with me about the Asari, well, you know. Then when they contacted me..."

"I want to learn more about the Armor." Iris said. "And if you're joining Cerberus, then I'm coming with you. They have resources that I need."

"Are you sure about this?" I said. "I mean, Cerberus are terrorists. They're..."

"We prefer the term Well-Intentioned Extremists." The man said. "Now, if you want to join, then it's time for a semester abroad. It's already been scheduled, and we'll add you to the school roster."

"How do I know I can trust you?" I said. "For that matter, how do we know that you're Cerberus at all? How can I know that you won't just lock us up as soon as we get wherever you're taking us?"

"I won't be taking us anywhere." The man said. "Do any of you know how to pilot a shuttle?"

[x]

"I still can't believe we're doing this." I said, as we boarded the school shuttle, sixteen hours after meeting the Cerberus man. "I mean, I know we all reached this conclusion on our own, but..."

"We've discussed this thoroughly." Serena said. "And I think this is for the best."

"I'm just not sure that this is-"

"Are you scared?" Iris asked.

"No." I said, as I hauled my armored bulk into the shuttle. "It's just that I don't know if... Nevermind."

Serena pressed a button, closing the door of the shuttle behind us. We walked forward, toward the cockpit of the shuttle. I had packed up everything I had on the suit and all the spare parts and such on magnetic crates, and used the suit to carry them to the shuttle bay. Cerberus had cut the school monitoring systems again, and assured us that our absences would not be remarked upon.

As we reached the cockpit, I opened a compartment and began removing the magnetic cases from my armor and stowing them as Serena took a seat behind the controls of the shuttle. She pressed a button on her Omnitool and a pre-prepared message played to the Space Traffic Control of the school.

Moments later, the shuttle rocked, and began to rise into the air. My armor stabilized me as the craft slowly began to accelerate forward, through the opening airlock of the shuttle bay and out into space.

I watched through the image projected on the canopy of the cockpit as the stars came into view. It wasn't my first time seeing them from space, but it was still beautiful. The stars began to roll as the shuttle executed a turn.

"So." I said, after a few minutes. "How far did he say he have to fly again? This thing isn't exactly FTL."

"Not far." Serena said. "Well, not at our speeds, anyway. We're accelerating fast enough to be lethal without the Mass Effect field."

"Pretty impressive." I said.

"It's actually standard." Serena said. "You hear about inertial compensator failures every now and again, but they're triple redundant on everything and hardwired to the ship's main engine. It would be physically impossible to turn off the compensators without cutting power to the engines."

"Smart." I said. "So let's review. What exactly are we doing here?"

"We have been instructed to retrieve evidence of the presence of the Prothean relic you claim lies under the Temple of Athame." Iris said. "I am still thinking of how exactly we are going to do that without any resources."

None of us said anything for a few seconds. "Guys?" Serena said. "I'm getting a tight beam communication."

"Who is it from?" I asked.

"They're identifying themselves as the Cerberus Destroyer _Chimera_." Serena said. "They're asking if we have the suit."

"Tell them I have it." I said.

Serena muttered something into her transmitter. A moment later, she spoke up. "They're telling us to proceed to an intercept course and prepare for docking.

"What's our ETA to the rendezvous point?"

Serena turned the ship slightly. "Thirty seconds."

I gulped. One way or another, things were going to start changing very soon.

We flew in scilence for a few seconds, then Serena said "I'm locked out!"

"What do you mean?" I said, as the shuttle executed a hard turn.

"I mean they've taken remote control of the Shuttle!" Serna said.

I looked out the canopy as a black shadow came into sight. As we drew closer, I could start to make out the details.

The black ship drew to mind a shark, with its sweeping lines and sleek appearance. Overall, the ship was shaped vaguely like an elongated teardrop, with the thick end pointed down, and two engine pods on either side of the base of the ship. I couldn't make out more details from the canopy, but everything I could see about the ship screamed _lethal_.

As we approached, we were maneuvered towards an illuminated landing bay on the 'underside' of the ship. I felt the main engine of the shuttle cut out, and we drifted into the bay.

"Ladies and Gentleman, Welcome to the Cerberus Destroyer _Chimera_." A voice said over the shuttle intercom. "Grab everything you need and prepare disembark, because this tub isn't hanging around for long."

As I began to remove my mag-cases from the case where I had stowed them, Serna got out of the pilot's seat.

"We've come this far." She said. "There's no turning back now."

I snapped the last mag case onto my armor and opened the door out of the cockpit. "Ladies first."

[x]

I came out of the shuttle door first, fully armored. The landing bay of the Cerberus Destroyer was shrouded in shadows, with the silhouettes of several craft visible surrounding us. No one seemed to be there.

I jumped down from the shuttle door, my armored feet clanging as they hit the floor. Serena followed me, and Iris dropped down a moment later.

A clapping sound shattered the silence. I looked around for a moment as a man stepped out from behind one of the parked craft. He was wearing a jet-black uniform with a familiar Cerberus symbol on the breast pocket.

"So." He said. "You decided to come, and you brought your magnificent armor with you. Thank you, Mr. Black. Welcome to the Cerberus Destroyer _Chimera_. I am the Executive Officer of this ship."

I felt a slight jolt, and a slight hum filled the air.

"We just started the main engines." He said. "I hope you appreciate this. We're burning antiprotons to get you and that suit out of here. Anyway, someone very important wants to talk you."

"The Illusive Man?" I asked.

The XO smiled. "Yes. If you'd come this way."

[x]

I stepped into the communications room, still wearing my armor. It looked a lot like the Communications Room on the Normandy SR2, and I wasn't at all surprised as the lights dimmed and the table began to retract into the floor. A moment later a hologram of a seated man with burning eyes holding a cigar appeared in the center of the room.

"Mr. Black." The Illusive man said, without preamble. "You are an interesting man. It is not often that I come across someone I can discover nothing about, but you..." He shook his head. "Nothing. As of three months ago, you didn't exist."

"Yes, sir." I said.

"So, you claim that the Asari have a functional Prothean beacon under their temple on Thessia. Is that correct?"

"Yes." I said. "I believe that the knowledge it contains would be helpful in the war to come."

"And what war would you be referring to?"

"Why, the war with the Reapers, of course." I responded.

"And how do you know about them."

I paused.

"I'd prefer not to say. It is for the same reason that I don't exist more than a month back." I said. "But I know lots of things."

"What do you want?" The Illusive Man asked.

"I want to save the Galaxy, of course." I said. "And to ensure that Humanity comes out of the Reaper war in the best possible condition."

"Fair enough." The Illusive Man said. "How about this. You let the science crew on that ship study the armor and I disseminate the results to humanity, as requested. You use the resources of that ship to gain proof of the Beacon on Thessia, and it's yours."

I took a step back. "What?"

"The damage the discovery of a Beacon on Thessia could cause to the Asari would be immense." The Illusive man said. "As would the benefits of the dissemination of their technology. That is more than worth the sacrifice of one ship, and that's not even counting the benefits of gaining your armor technology, the profits alone from which could buy me ten of the ship you're standing on. And I don't think that you'll throw my ship away."

"No, Sir." I said.

"Good. Now, get me irrefutable evidence of that beacon before the end of your semester abroad." The Illusive Man said. "Mr. Mcbride will help you get acquainted with the resources available for your operation, and has final veto power over your actions."

"Why are you doing this?" I said, narrowing my eyes. "This seems awfully trusting for you."

"I've taken precautions." The Illusive Man said. "But... Call it a hunch. I have a feeling about you, Mr. Black. Make sure it's a good feeling."

The hologram disappeared, and the table began to rise out of the floor.

"Come on." The Executive Officer, Mcbride, said. "I'll take you to the bridge. We have an operation to plan."

[x]

"These," Mcbride said, opening a hologram on the bridge display, "are the ship schematics. You can see all the main systems, weapons, engines, and so forth."

I stood on the bridge with Mcbride, standing in a fresh Cerberus uniform. Iris had disappeared down to the science department with my armor, and now Mcbride was giving me a virtual tour of the ship.

"Three hundred meters long, assembled in pieces shipped out of one of our Aerospace holdings. She's got a radar cross-section the size of your head, and twin accelerators able to obliterate anything we can't outrun, which is fighters, basically. Just about her only flaw is sub-par hull integrity, which we've got overstrength kinetic barriers to compensate for. And the best part is that the Alliance paid for the whole thing."

"How did you swing that?"

"Cost overruns, mostly." Mcbride said.

The door to the bridge opened, and Serena walked in, carrying a large hologram projector.

"I've pulled the plans for the temple off of the extranet." Serena said, setting the hologram projector on the floor and activating it. "I don't they're legit, but they're a start."

"Good." I said. "Now, let's get to work."

The hologram projector activated, and the outside of the temple appeared.

"This is the Temple of Athame." Serena said. "It has declined since the Asari largely took up the Siari religion, but it still has a formidable network of security. Let's start at the top."

The image of the temple zoomed out to show the surrounding city, the temple and the empty space surrounding it in the center of the screen.

"During the day, anyone can come and visit the temple, but they're limited to the public areas of the Temple, which are of no interest to us." Serena said. "Guards will politely turn around anyone entering a forbidden area, and a heavy response team is on standby outside the temple, here." Serena pointed at a small building outside the temple.

"During the night, Security increases tenfold." Serena continued. "Motion detectors and cameras prevent anyone from entering the premise, though we know guards are recognized and excluded from the security systems by a combination of gait recognition, facial recognition, and RFID tags. The heavy response team is still on standby."

"Alright." I said. "What's it like inside?"

"Laser grids line the floors and cut off intersections." Serena said. "They have more cameras, this time with no exemptions. Any disruption of the laser grid or motion detected is logged and, presumably, investigated."

"Is that all?"

"Then there's the inner sanctum of the temple." Serena said. "That's presumably where the Prothean Relic would be kept, if anywhere. That's a blank. We have no intel."

"Well then, I said." Let's get planning."

**Coming up next time: Thessia's Eleven.**


End file.
